My take as a Web lawyer is that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) (PDF summary) is abused to suppress free speech and prevent competition in the Internet marketplace. If someone has filed a false DMCA complaint against you for content on your website, consult your Internet attorney immediately to determine what your course of action should be.

(Please note – I am not accepting any clients in DMCA complaint matters at this time).

According to Google, more than half of the DMCA complaints it receives involve businesses targeting competition. Here’s the key stat: 37% of the claims were bogus. In other words, just because someone claims you’re violating the DMCA doesn’t necessarily mean that you actually are. So there’s no need to panic if you receive a DMCA complaint.

In general, here are some of the steps that some Internet marketers take when confronted by bogus DMCA complaints. Consult with your web lawyer to discuss specifics before doing something though.

1. Back up the alleged infringing content and temporarily take it down from the site until the dispute is resolved.

2. If there’s a chance that your website host will take down your site, start looking immediately for alternative hosting that is “free speech” friendly.

3. File a counter-notification under the DMCA if it is clear that the infringement claim is bogus.

4. If it turns out that the other party is infringing, file a DMCA complaint against him.

5. Demand a public retraction (such as a video apology or letter that you can post online).

6. In Legal Strategy Session with your attorney, consider suing for the false claims made. Under the DMCA, you may be entitled to damages, attorney fees, and costs for dealing with a bogus DMCA complaint. Note that you may have other claims too. For example, if your hosting company decides not to continue hosting your website because of one or more bogus DMCA claims, you may be able to seek damages for tortious interference with business relationships. In addition, some obtain injunctions to prevent future harassment.

(2) that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification,

shall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys’ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, by any copyright owner or copyright owner’s authorized licensee, or by a service provider, who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing, or in replacing the removed material or ceasing to disable access to it.

Some post their experiences of dealing with bogus DMCA claimants at consumer protection and free speech websites. The key here is to tell the truth and back it up with documentation. Your Web lawyer can tell you whether what you plan to say crosses the line or not. Of course, anonymous flames destroy credibility and are arguably just as unethical as filing false DMCA infringement notices.

Internet Lawyer

Internet lawyer Mike Young helps business owners protect themselves. Whether you're wanting website legal help, ecommerce agreements, technology contracts, corporate formation, LLC formation, or want to buy or sell an Internet-related business, Mike may be able to help you or refer you to someone who can.

I enjoyed your article. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction to find out what the consequences are for people who constantly post that a website is copyright when it is not.

I know some people that like to design websites for different reasons mostly personal, family and friends sort of thing. Although recently I am seeing my friends branching and posting in the footer section that the site is copyright 2009

When I ask them if they really took the time to do that they respond with no but other people do not know that. Isn’t that like showing a police badge and saying ‘Are you really a cop” and them saying “No, but other people do not know that”

So if it is found out that someone is saying they are copy righted when they are not what happens? Or where can I go to research this question?

There is a difference between copyright ownership and copyright registration. Copyright notices put on sites (registered or not) reduce/eliminate an infringer’s defense that piracy occurred innocently.

I almost can’t even believe it, but some joker was able to take wwf.Fornits.com offline again by filing some DMCA complaints. Fornits is a forum site focusing on child abuse within the troubled teen industry. It’s been online (most of the time) for around 10 years. Sue Scheff almost killed it a couple of years ago using a different instrument, demand letters alleging defamation and such like and threatening legal action against the hosting providers (one after another after another).

How does one go about preventing a veritable bit torrent of bogus DMCAs from making it impossible for a shoestring outfit like Fornits to stay in operation?

Someone who is somewhat famous on youtube has filed a copyright infringement notice on a video of mine that is clearly fair use, I have filed a counter claim, he has informed me if I do file a counter claim, he will contact his lawyer. He then was schooled in private messages and from a video made by a partner on youtube. After being schooled he files a 2nd DMCA claim on my video that was mirrored on anther channel.

I would like to take legal action against this guy but don’t know how to go about doing so.

You next step should be to set up an initial consultation with an Internet lawyer who focuses on litigation instead of transactional work. Note that I practice Internet transactional law so this isn’t some lame attempt to get you as a client.
A good starting point for finding what you’re looking for is the Internet Attorneys Association member directory.

Greetings,
I really appreciate the informative article posted by you above. I work with virtual gaming website and been working past 3 years. Recently someone whose identity is not disclosed by the website has been False filing DMCA due to which my work would be taken off the website and returned withon 2 weeks due my counter filing. Now this has happened 3 times already. What should be done? That person is jealous of my creativity and wants me to get discouraged and stop posting my work. My works were copyrighted (the symbol c) by me and I dont understand how the website is allowing my copyrighted work to be dmca’ed.

Hello,
I have (had, its been taken down) a facebook fan page with almost 3000 fans which is a large part of our customer base communitcation. A corporation claimed copyright infringement on us and got our fan page shut down. I repeatedly contacted FB and they will not budge on this. From my research there is no copyright infringement they are claiming the copyright to the words “Dirty Girl” and we are Dirty Girl Soaps LLC. On the federal copyright sight I did some research and see that they have tried to do the same thing to other companies for their copyrights. The annoying company lost due to “common word” use. There are several companies with copyright names with the words Dirty Girl in them in the same category.
How do I get my fan page back? Their actions have severely hampered out networking abilities and hurt our company.

[…] is legal, the DMCA take down notice from Getty seems to be bogus. And if that’s the case, Getty has another thing coming. According to Google, more than half of the DMCA complaints it receives involve businesses […]

About Internet Lawyer Young

ExperienceFor 20 years, Mike has helped entrepreneurs protect, buy, and sell Internet companies. Education
International Master of Laws - Georgetown University (1994) and
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